Vise

ABSTRACT

An instant lock power vise comprising a sliding jaw having a shaft portion slidably positioned through an opening in a rigid jaw. The rigid jaw contains a housing chamber in which a floating link and toothed cam, in combination with a breaking dog link, engage teeth along the shaft of the sliding jaw to permit rapid locking adjustment. A handle engages the toothed cam to permit an increased grip or a complete disengagement of the locking mechanisms, depending upon the direction and the extent to which the handle is moved.

United States Patent Myers [451 May 30, 1972 [54] VISE 1,036,093 8/1912 Gatten ..269/214 62,319 2/1867 Crowl ..269/214 X [72] Inventor. Herman A. Myers, Lake Lynn, Pa. 669,605 3/l90l Vernon-m 269/214 x [73] Assignee: Insta-Snap, Inc., Monongahela, Pa. 914,567 3/1909 Goodknight ..269/214 [22] Filed: July 1970 Primary Examiner-Wayne A. Morse, Jr. [21] Appl. No.: 51,818 Attorney-Webb, Burden, Robinson & Webb [57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl ..269/214, 269/202, 269/205, I

269/228 An instant lock power vise comprising a shding aw having a [51] Int CL 1325b 1/02, 1325b 1/14 B251) 5H6 shaft portion slidably positioned through an opening in a rigid 58 Field of Search ..269/214, 227, 228, 202, 205 The jaw mmajns a musing chamber in which a floating link and toothed cam, in combination with a breaking dog link, engage teeth along the shaft of the sliding jaw to per- [56] References cued mit rapid locking adjustment. A handle engages the toothed UNITED STATES PATENTS cam to permit an increased grip or a complete disengagement of the locking mechanisms, depending upon the direction and 1,228,275 5/1917 Widger ..269/1 88 the extent to Which the handle is moved 1,798,342 3/1931 Trepte .....269/202 3,570,837 3/1971 Pohjola ..269/228 X 1 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures iii/Iii.

imlli/ PATENTEDMAY 30 I972 new" I i I r I I6 7, l2 J I O /3 INVENTOR HERMAN A. MYERS BY 11/4/04) M Mu/M VISE This invention relates to a vise and, more particularly, to an instant lock power vise. The standard vise, as known heretofore, comprises a movable jaw having a long threadable shaft which is turned by a handle to move into or out of a stationary jaw member of the vise. The opening and closing of this type of vise is a timely operation because of the necessity to constantly turn the handle. Further, the handle and portions of the threading member extend outwardly in front of the vise, and these components often interfere with the work being conducted.

My invention simplifies the design of a vise by eliminating the threadable shaft to permit instant engagement of a workpiece. Further, my invention eliminates the outwardly extending members in the frontal section of the vise thereby permitting a variety of operations to be conducted in an unhindered manner. Because of the simplicity of design, my vise is amenable to standard manufacturing techniques and can be readily and economically produced.

My invention provides an instant lock power vise comprising a movable jaw having a shaft adapted to slidably cooperate with an opening in a rigid jaw also containing a housing chamber. The housing chamber contains a series of links, one of which has a tooth which engages teeth along the shaft of the sliding jaw and one of which is a breaking dog link, also in engagement with the teeth of the shaft. A handle connected to the link permits a rapid tightening of the jaws about a workiece. p In the accompanying drawings, I have shown my presently preferred embodiment in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view, partly broken away, of the vise;

F IG. 2 is a partly broken away frontal view of the vise; and,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the operating mechanisms.

Referring to the figures, the vise is mounted on the base 11 so that it can swivel thereon and be locked in a number of different positions by known means which do not form a part of this invention. The vise comprises a sliding jaw 12, a rigid jaw 13 and an operating mechanism generally designated 14 which is positioned in a housing chamber 15 which is within rigid jaw 13.

The sliding jaw 12 includes a shaft 16 and a normally depending gripping section 17 having a gripping surface 19. Shaft 16 has a plurality of teeth 18 along an upper surface thereof.

The rigid jaw 13 has a gripping surface 20 and an opening 21 extending completely through the rigid jaw 13. This opening 21 slidably accommodates the shaft 16 of the sliding jaw 12 so that a workpiece (not shown) can be engaged between the gripping surfaces 19 and 20, which are aligned with respect to each other.

The housing chamber 15, positioned within the framework of rigid jaw 13, is located above but in communication with the opening 21.

The operating mechanism 14 is located within housing chamber 15 and includes a floating link 25 which is pivotally connected at its upper end to the opposing inner walls which define housing chamber 15 and which are a part of rigid jaw 13. Floating link 25 terminates in two extended flanges 29, which depend downwardly in spaced apart relationship.

A handle 26 extends through the walls of rigid jaw 13, through the housing chamber 15 and is pivotally connected to one of the inner walls defining chamber 15. The handle 26 has a section 27 external to the vise 10 which leads through the rigid jaw 13 into section 28 which is internal of the housing chamber 15. The internal section 28 of handle 26 extends through openings in the flange sections 29 of floating link 25. Therefore, floating link 25 is connected at one end to the rigid jaw member 13 and at the other end to handle 26.

Between the flange sections 29 of floating link 25, the internal section 28 of handle 26 is built up to form a cam-like cylindrical section 30. This cam 30 has a tooth 31 extending downward therefrom and has a release trip 32 extending upwardly therefrom. The tooth 31 is positioned to engage the teeth 18 of the shaft 16 ofslidingjaw 12.

The operating mechanism 14 also includes link 35 which is also pivotally connected at its upper end to the opposing walls of housing chamber 15. Link 35 is positioned above floating link 35. The lower end of link 35 is pivotally connected to breaking dog link 36 which depends downwardly to engage the teeth 18 of shaft 16 at a point downstream of the engagement of tooth 31 to teeth 18. Breaking dog link 36 has a stop 37 in the area of its pivotal connection to link 35 which engages link 35 to limit the downward movement of breaking dog link 36 and prevent an over-centering position.

The operation of my vise is as follows. Sliding jaw 12 is manually pushed forward until a workpiece is roughly engaged between gripping surfaces 19 and 20. Handle 26 is then moved upward, which is in a counterclockwise direction. As handle 26 is moved upward, tooth 31 of cam 30 engages teeth 18 of shaft 16 to further move shaft 16 into opening 21, thereby tightening the gripping surfaces 17 and 20 about the workpiece, not shown. Sliding jaw 12 is prevented from a loosening or rearward movement by the engagement of breaking dog link 36 with the teeth 18 of shaft 16. When the handle 26 is moved partially downward or in a clockwise direction, tooth 31 moves rearward to engage a new tooth of the teeth 18. Thereby one can continually increase the gripping of the workpiece by merely raising and partially closing the handle 26.

When the handle 26 is moved completely downward to a position which parallels the shaft 16, release trip 32 breaks the connection between link 35 and the breaking dog link 36 to completely remove breaking dog link 36 from its engagement with the teeth 18 of shaft 16. This then permits movable jaw 12 to be manually slid rearward to remove the workpiece. This movement can be seen in FIG. 3 where the engaged position is shown in the continuous lines and the disengaged position is shown by the dotted lines. The weight of breaking dog link 36 is sufficient so it will assume its engaging position (see FIG. 2) when the handle 26 is next raised.

While I have described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the appended claims.

1 claim:

1. An instant lock power vise comprising:

A. a rigid jaw including a gripping surface and an internal housing chamber communicating with an opening longitudinally through the rigid jaw;

B. a sliding jaw including a shaft slidably positioned in said opening and having a gripping surface, said shaft having a plurality of teeth along a surface thereof;

C. a floating link having opposed and spaced extending flanges and pivotally connected at a first end to said rigid jaw within said housing chamber;

D. a second link spaced from the floating link and pivotally connected at a first end to said rigid jaw and within said chamber;

E. a breaking dog link pivotally connected to a second end of said second link and having a stop at its pivotal connection to prevent over-center positioning, said breaking dog link terminating in a dog to engage the teeth of said shaft;

F. a handle extending through said rigid jaw, into said housing chamber and through openings in the opposed extended flanges of the floating link;

G. a cam formed about said handle between said extended flanges and including a tooth to engage or disengage the teeth of said shaft depending on the position of the handle and a release trip depending outwardly therefrom so as to break the pivotal connection between the second link and the breaking dog; whereby in a counterclockwise movement of said handle the tooth of said cam forces the sliding jaw forward into the rigid jaw and said dog prevents a rearward movement thereof, whereas a partial clockwise movement of said handle withdraws said tooth and engages another of said teeth to permit a further tightening and a complete clockwise movement of said handle causes the release trip to break the pivotal connection between the link and the breaking dog link to permit a rearward movement of said sliding jaw.

1! "I t l 

1. An instant lock power vise comprising: A. a rigid jaw including a gripping surface and an internal housing chamber communicating with an opening longitudinally through the rigid jaw; B. a sliding jaw including a shaft slidably positioned in said opening and having a gripping surface, said shaft having a plurality of teeth along a surface thereof; C. a floating link having opposed and spaced extending flanges and pivotally connected at a first end to said rigid jaw within said housing chamber; D. a second link sPaced from the floating link and pivotally connected at a first end to said rigid jaw and within said chamber; E. a breaking dog link pivotally connected to a second end of said second link and having a stop at its pivotal connection to prevent over-center positioning, said breaking dog link terminating in a dog to engage the teeth of said shaft; F. a handle extending through said rigid jaw, into said housing chamber and through openings in the opposed extended flanges of the floating link; G. a cam formed about said handle between said extended flanges and including a tooth to engage or disengage the teeth of said shaft depending on the position of the handle and a release trip depending outwardly therefrom so as to break the pivotal connection between the second link and the breaking dog; whereby in a counterclockwise movement of said handle the tooth of said cam forces the sliding jaw forward into the rigid jaw and said dog prevents a rearward movement thereof, whereas a partial clockwise movement of said handle withdraws said tooth and engages another of said teeth to permit a further tightening and a complete clockwise movement of said handle causes the release trip to break the pivotal connection between the link and the breaking dog link to permit a rearward movement of said sliding jaw. 